Romeo and Julian

Chapter 3

I lie awake at night, unable to fall asleep. I peer over at my window near my bed and look at all the bright stars. Gorgeous. I can see hundreds of them, maybe more than that. The moon is bigger than them all. It's shape; a full circle as it watches down on us all.

Maybe someday I'll find my true love, but I guess that day isn't today.

I was born here, obviously since I'm a royal, I always read fairy tales. Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, all of them. I love them all. I want to be just like the princes in there. I want to save the princess, fall in love with her, and live happily ever after just like the stories!

. . .

But, as you can tell that has yet to happen. So far I've almost been killed by a shifter, fallen off an abandoned tower, been kidnapped by a werecat, been slapped by an annoyed princess, and now have to deal with a prince without the ss. Perfect.

I've gone on arranged dates before, but they never work out. I want it to be true love, not arranged love. But it has yet to happen.

A single tear falls down my cheek, I hastily wipe it away. Dammit, why is it taking so long?

Knock, knock, knock.

Who could that be at this hour? I sit up, looking over at the clock; midnight.

I get up, sluggishly walking to my large bedroom door and opening it. The short boy standing on the other side surprises me greatly. His worrisome face, the bags under his eyes, the shaking hands.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, worriedly.

"C- Can I-?" He starts, but quickly stops, "It's nothing, just leave me alone!"

"Oh stop with that already! Tell me what's wrong!"

"Well. . ." He starts, "It's my first night in eleven years out of the tower. It's scary, I guess." He shrugs, his arms now over his chest as he looks away.

"You've been in the tower for eleven years?"

He nods, still not looking up.

I can't hold myself back, I hug him and keep him close. I feel a tear slip onto my gold colored pajamas before he shoves me away.

"C- Can I just sleep in here for tonight?" He mumbles.

"Of course!" I say, dragging him in.

Tick, tick, tick.

The minutes on the clock keeps going by. One minute, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty, etcetera. But neither of us have talked. He sits on the ground, criss cross applesauce, as I lie in bed. I stare up at the ceiling but every minute or so I find my eyes drifting back to his red hair as he stares out the window at all the stars.

"Was he mean to you?" I finally ask.

"Huh?"

"The dragon, was he mean to you?" I look down at him, still lying down.

He doesn't look up at me. "He's a dragon, what do you expect? He fed me, gave me water, just the basic things to keep me alive. He just never let me out. Every time I tried he'd blow fire in my face or scratch me. Eventually I gave up."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything," He sounds sincere but I can hear the hatred in his voice. Like there is someone who did do something.

"If you don't mind my pushing," I start, rolling onto my belly. "How did you end up in the tower?"

"Your father seems nice."

"You're avoiding the question, aren't you?"

"Yup," He continues to keep his gaze up. "The stars are a nice distraction, they keep you company when no one else will."

I understand now that he doesn't want to answer the question, "Yes. I feel the same way with books." I nod over to my large bookshelf, containing hundreds of romance novels. And that's just my favorites, I own thousands more in the library downstairs.

"Why do you like them so much?" He asks, finally looking up at me with inquisitive green eyes.

"I'm a prince, only time I can interact with the workers and children is when I sneak out. In my stories I can go anywhere I want, I can fall in love."

"What is with you and love? And does that mean you snuck out today to kill that dragon?"

"Yes, I did sneak out to kill him. My Papa doesn't really care if I do, it's Mother who gets angered by me doing it." I explain, "And who doesn't love love? Don't you want to find a princess of your own?"

"No. Not ever." Suddenly, his voice sounds colder than ever before. The coldness makes the room go silent for a long time. It makes me shiver.

I'm the first to speak up again. "Come on up here, it'd be much more comfortable."

What surprises me is how he complies. With a roll of his eyes of course but that's besides the point. He lies down next to me, our backs facing each other, silence filling the room again.

My eyelids begin to droop, my breathing slowing ever so slightly, as a royal wedding fills my vision.

"And I now pronounce you husband and ----" the priest says, but for whatever reason the wife gets cut off. I turn over to my beautiful princess, pulling off her veil slowly to kiss her.

But what surprises me is that there is no bride at all. . . Just another groom.

A familiar red headed groom.

He leans in closer, preparing to kiss me. His eyes look into mine, deeply and full of love. But all I can see is my vision blurring, all I can feel is my heart thumping against my chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Ringing fills my ears, the room begins to spin. What is happening? Why is he wearing a dress? Why am I wearing a suit? Why am I marrying this MALE I just met. There is no fe in that.

But everything stops when he puts his lips on my own.